Local authors making literary, film waves

Barbara Cutrera lives in Florida now, but she was reared in Louisiana and it’s where she began writing.

Over the past few years, she has released several books, including a collection of short stories in which one of the stories is set in “Guidry’s Handi-mart and Bait Shop” in a small Louisiana town.

Her “Real World” series is set in Baton Rouge and begins in the 1970s and continues to the present.

The second book in the series, “A Good Man's Life,” should be out this week.

“In a Manner of Speaking” begins in Louisiana, including Baton Rouge and St. Francisville, and ends in Scotland.

Other books include “Over, Under, Across & Through” and “Mercy,” other titles in the “Real World” series; “The Healer’s Gift,” a romance; “A Lovely Dream,” a romantic thriller; “Prim and Proper,” a true romance with a touch of mystery; and “Lucky,” a thriller set in the not-so-distant future in post-plague Earth.

“I recently completed another work of fiction titled ‘Compromising Positions’ and have started writing a romance titled ‘Sight Unseen,’” she told me.

When I hear people tell me they don’t have time to write, I send them to Cutrera’s web site for inspiration.

“I work with the visually-impaired and am visually-impaired myself,” she writes on her website. “I firmly believe that our minds are only limited by the restrictions that we place upon them. That is why my literary credo is, ‘Transcending reality by exploring it one story at a time….’”

For more information on this prolific and inspiring Louisiana author, visit onmywayuponline.com.

Awards

Multipublished author and business trainer Christee Gabour Atwood of Alexandria will receive the Knowledge Management Leadership Award for her work in the field of knowledge management and information sharing on June 27 in Mumbai, India. The award will be presented at the Global Knowledge Management Congress and Atwood will be the keynote speaker. The award is based on the body of work represented in Atwood’s workforce training and development projects as well as her five business books. In July 2012 Atwood was the keynote speaker at the Human Capital Conference in Tokyo.

‘True Detective’

Have you been watching “True Detective” on HBO? Nic Pizzalotto wrote and produced the series filmed in Louisiana. Pizzolatto was born in New Orleans and raised in Lake Charles.

“True Detective” stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in a gripping mystery series surrounding a strange, occult-like murder in Vermilion Parish. Years later the two detectives are interviewed about the case and the series veers back and forth between these two timeframes.

Robert Anthony “Bobby” Gisclair, 65, a native and resident of Galliano and author of “Singing To The Lions,” passed away on Jan. 16 at his residence. Gisclair also produced and wrote a French play titled “Blanche Neige.” He was a Vietnam veteran, a world traveler and cultural connoisseur who spoke several languages.

Conferences

•
New Orleans Comic Con 2014 will be Friday through Sunday at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. Some of the celebrities scheduled to visit are Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Jon Bernthal, Michael Rooker of “The Walking Dead;” Matt Smith, The 11th Doctor of “Doctor Who;” Manu Bennett of “The Hobbit” and “Arrow” and Carlos Pacheco, an Eisner Award nominee, among many more. For more information, visitwizardworld.com/home-neworleans.html.

•
The 31st annual Romantic Times Booklovers Convention is scheduled for May 13-18 at the Marriott Hotel on Canal Street in New Orleans. Some of the authors appearing will be Lee Child, author of the “Jack Reacher” series (and the movie starring Tom Cruise); inspirational fiction author Francine Rivers; Charlaine Harris, author of the bestselling Sookie Stackhouse novels adapted for HBO’s “True Blood” series and Louisiana regular Heather Graham. Some Louisiana authors to be in attendance are Diana Rowland, Jana DeLeon and Sabrina Jeffries, again among many more. For more information, visitrtconvention.com.

Book events

•
There will be a spoken-word event featuring African American writers and poets beginning at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the Ernest J. Gaines Center of the UL Dupre Library, third floor. Administrators, faculty and students will read passages and the public is invited to participate with a one- to five-minute reading of their favorite passage. For more information, contact the Gaines Center at 482-1848 or gainescenter@louisiana.edu.

•
Ages 5-12 may make a Candy Butterfly Valentine at 4 p.m. Thursday at South Regional Library and 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, at the Milton Library and 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12, at the Youngsville Library.

•
Kim Vaz, author of “The ‘Baby Dolls,’ Breaking the Race and Gender Barriers of the New Orleans Mardi Gras Tradition,” will speak from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday at the State Library Seminar Center in Baton Rouge.

Cheré Coen is the author of “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana,” both from The History Press, and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” She teaches writing at UL-Lafayette’s Continuing Education. Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.